Back in 2008, Peeper competed in the doggie gymnastics event at the Beijing Summer Olympics. Below is a video to refresh your memory of his perfect routine. With the Vancouver Winter Olympics only 4 days away, I am already wondering what event he has entered himself in this time. It should be interesting since he doesn’t do cold well. Anyway, enjoy the video and get yourself in the mood for the Olympics!

I am so happy that the Saints won the Super Bowl last night. Defeating Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts, 31-17 was INSANE! I wish that we still lived in New Orleans so we could share in some of the festivities that are going to occur. I was checking out NOLA.COM this morning and it was pretty much all Saints coverage. I looked through the photos they had posted of pre-, during, and post-game and chose the one below as my favorite. It is so sweet to me to see Drew Brees with his son (who is adorable wearing his headphones, or whatever they are called- my brain is tired.)
Enjoy!

Wow- that title is a mouthful!

I received a King Cake from my parent’s in the mail today. It is a Super Bowl King Cake and is Mississippi Mud flavored (aka CHOC-O-LOT!!) It came with everything needed to decorate it in Saints Black and Gold colors. Tonight, after Sam went to bed, I decorated my King Cake. Travis told me that since it is for my birthday I can’t eat any until tomorrow. I can’t wait.

Here is how the cake decorating went. First, I gathered all the necessary items. In addition to the king cake and decorations, they sent me a Mardi Gras cup, 2 sets of Mardi Gras beads, and 2 doubloons.



From February 2010

Next, I spread the chocolate icing along the outside (there is also chocolate on the inside but, since I am not allowed to cut into yet, you can’t see that.)



From February 2010




From February 2010

Then I sprinkled the pecans and black and gold sprinkles on the chocolate.



From February 2010

Finally, I placed the Super Bowl decorations on the King Cake.



From February 2010

Once it was complete, I had Travis take a pic of me with my Happy Super Bowl Birthday King Cake!



From February 2010

In case some of you were wondering what a King Cake is. Here is the information on the history of them that was included with the King Cake. It is kind of lengthy, so bear with me- there will be a cute picture at the end to make up for all the “heavy” reading.

In European countries, the coming of the wisemen bearing gifts to the Christ Child is celebrated twelve days after Christmas. The celebration, called Epiphany, Little Christmas or the Twelfth Night, is a time of exchanging gifts and feasting.

All over the world people gather for festive twelfth night celebrations. One of the most popular customs is still the baking of a special cake in honor of the three kings…”a King’s Cake.”

The Europeans hide a bean inside their cake and the person receiving the bean must portray one of the kings. Latin-American people put a small figure inside the cake representing the Christ Child. It is said that a year of good fortune awaits the lucky person who gets the figure.

The residents of Louisiana and the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coast like the idea of perpetuating the celebration by having the person who received the baby continue the festivities with another party and another cake. Starting the twelfth day after Christmas, King Cake Parties continue until the first day of Lent, ending on Fat Tuesday… Mardi Gras Day!

King Cakes were originally a simple ring of dough with little decorations. [The Traditional ones] are now decorated in three colors: GREEN- Representing Faith; PURPLE- Representing Justice, and GOLD- Representing the Voice of Power. In the early 1970’s, Paul’s Pastry Shop located in Picayune, Mississippi, began filling the King Cakes with an assortment of Fruits and Cream Cheese, then topping them with the brightly colored Mardi Gras sugars and sliced almonds… thus beginning a new tradition of the Mardi Gras King Cake. Our customers not only have the choice of the traditional cinnamon king cake, but also an exotic, deliciously filled King Cake with your choice of up to four flavors in the same cake.

Thousands of King Cakes are consumed at parties every year in Louisiana and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A cultured gumbo of European tradition, pagan celebration and religious doctrine, spiced with more than a dash of local flavor, today’s Mardi Gras has evolved as an American phenomenon unique to the Gulf Coast region. Here at Paul’s Pastry Shop in Picayune, MS, we wish to continue the Mardi Gras tradition making a quality product for our customers to enjoy.

Now for the cute picture…



From February 2010

That was how Sam slept for most of his nap yesterday. It makes me laugh!

I hope you enjoyed the post about King Cakes. One day, I hope to make my own but I am not that ambitious yet. I can’t wait until tomorrow so I can slice into all that yummy chocolatey goodness.

Several years ago, I bought a brand new quilt rack for $10 (it was on sale but actually priced incorrectly- it was originally $40 and was supposed to have been on sale for $20.) Since then, it has hung out in its box in my grandma’s house. When we bought our house last year, we started corralling up all that we had stored in various relatives’ houses. Therefore, the quilt rack made it to NC. It still stayed in the box because I couldn’t convince myself to put our wedding quilt (made by a dear church member at FBC Dandridge, TN) on it and tempt our dog. He likes to mark blankets periodically and I don’t enjoy washing them. Well, right before we moved from our apartment, my cheap-o wooden clothes drying rack broke. I didn’t buy a new one because I didn’t want to add to the stuff we would already be moving. So for several months, I threw clothes that needed to dry across the tops of doors throughout our house. It was quite a sight at times. One day, I was working in a room and came across the quilt rack box. Then it dawned on me that I could use the quilt rack as a drying rack! It works great because it is much sturdier than our previous clothes drying rack and won’t lean, bow, or collapse when 3 sweaters are draped on it. That is why drying clothes on the quilt rack works for me!



From Pantry Redo

In the picture above, you can clearly see that I am currently drying pee pads. In an effort to curb recurring expenses, we bought reusable pee pads instead of disposable since our eldest son, the dog, refuses to potty outside during cold or inclement weather. Positioning the quilt rack over the air vent helps everything dry quickly without interfering with the airflow!

In case you are wondering, the wedding quilt is still carefully folded in our guest closet and will probably remain that way until Sam and our dog, Peeper can be trusted with it.

Today, during Sam’s nap, I reorganized our pantry. Honestly, I don’t think it was originally designed to be a pantry- probably more like a linen closet. It is actually in our hall but super convenient to the kitchen. I don’t have the cabinet space in the kitchen to store everything and make it easy to get to so I have been trying to utilize my “pantry.” However, I haven’t really had it organized to make it easy to use- until today. Here is a picture of the pantry before showing that cleaning stuff was interspersed amongst food- probably not the best thing in the world.



From Pantry Redo

Mainly during Sam’s nap, I emptied the closet and move the cleaning stuff around. I still have some cleaning supplies in there but it is only the ingredients to make homemade stuff so it is safe to store with the food- no harsh chemicals. We have a lazy susan cabinet that I loathe. I had stuff stored in there that I totally forgot about. For example, I had recently put Ranch dressing on my grocery list. However, today I found a bottle of ranch in the pantry AND in the lazy susan. I didn’t even have a system set up to keep like things together! When I realized this, I emptied the lazy susan too (isn’t that how it usually happens- one project leads to another) and once I organized the pantry was able to fit everything in the pantry except the various oils, cooking wines, and spices. I don’t want those in the pantry anyhow- they need to be quickly accessed while I am cooking. Well, while I was starting to unload the lazy susan, Sam woke up and decided he needed to help me. He was such a good helper- he just plopped himself down and handed me each item on the top shelf and then moved to the bottom. It was great! Here is my helper…



From Pantry Redo




From Pantry Redo

(yes, I am wearing toe socks- I love them!!!!)

Well, once everything was out of the lazy susan and integrated into the pantry I took an after picture to show my progress. It looks much better!!



From Pantry Redo

Now, you should go organize something…

Last night when we went to bed, our backyard looked like this…



From "Blizzard" of 2010

When we woke up this morning, our yard and house looked like this…



From "Blizzard" of 2010

This afternoon when I measured the snow, the ruler measured this…



From "Blizzard" of 2010

This morning, Sam kept doing this…



From "Blizzard" of 2010

To entertain ourselves before lunch, we did this…



From "Blizzard" of 2010




From "Blizzard" of 2010

Here are a few more pictures, followed by a video…



From "Blizzard" of 2010




From "Blizzard" of 2010




From "Blizzard" of 2010




From "Blizzard" of 2010

Sam didn’t seem to really enjoy playing in it. I think that is because he flipped the sled in the backyard and got a face full of snow. Oops! We might try again tomorrow but, I am not making any promises. For the grandmas, we bundled Sam up real well. He was wearing long johns, fleece footed PJs, ziploc bags over his feet, socks over the ziploc bags, rubber galoshes (is that how you spell that?), his ski suit, toboggan and mittens.

Lots of pictures are forthcoming!

Hey, this is Sam and I want to tell you about the fun stuff I’ve done this month!

One Sunday, I didn’t make it home from church awake. I refuse to nap in my crib now so my daddy laid me in the recliner. I seemed to enjoy it and slept there for at least 2 hours.



From January Fun




From January Fun

My brother and I like to wrestle with my dad. Here are some pictures of us going at it. It is so much fun to tackle daddy.



From January Fun

My Gramma Gail gave me some Timberland boots that I have finally grown into. I wanted to model them for mommy so she could take a picture of me.



From January Fun

She also gave me a lawn mower. I like to keep the carpet cut real low. HA!



From January Fun




From January Fun

My daddy and I had a tickle fight. I laughed HARD. I really like laughing and sticking my tongue out.



From January Fun




From January Fun

Mommy let me take a picture with her “good” camera. I really like my brother, so I took a picture of him. I think I did pretty good for my first picture.



From January Fun

Man, I had so much fun playing with an empty cheerio box earlier this week. Peeper even got involved and I eventually just let him finish it off. I am a good sharer with my brother.



From January Fun




From January Fun




From January Fun




From January Fun

Mommy told me I had to post this picture because she likes it a lot.



From January Fun

We are supposed to get a lot of snow this weekend. Mommy and I went to a hardware store in Wake Forest today and picked up a sled so we could have some fun. We practiced tonight so that I don’t get scared. I think I am going to enjoy it because I really like to go down slides and will go down big swirly slides all by myself!



From January Fun




From January Fun

I hope you enjoyed my update. Stay tuned for more about the snow that we are supposed to get this weekend!! I am excited!!
Love, Sam



From January Fun

Ahhh… I found a version of the Super Bowl Mambo that wasn’t of the group singing on a stage. This song is very New Orleans-ish and totally not gangsta like the previous song I posted. It is a twist on the popular Mardi Gras Mambo song. Enjoy! It is now officially stuck in my head so you’ve been warned. HA HA!

Man, what a game?! I was so excited! I kept telling Travis I couldn’t watch that final kick- but I did and if Sam hadn’t been asleep the Who Dat Nation would’ve heard me all the way down in good ol’ Nawlins! I miss living in that city right now. I decided to check YouTube to see if any cool videos had been created yet and I found one that I really like because it actually shows footage from the game. I am now on a mission to get Sam a Saints shirt (24 months please- HA) so he can wear it to church and during the game on the 7th. My birthday weekend can’t get here fast enough. Enjoy the video!!!

WHO DAT?! WHO DAT?! WHO DAT SAY DEY GONNA BEAT DEM SAINTS?!

Today, Sam went to his first birthday party for a friend (in case you didn’t read the title- HA!) His little buddy is named Simeon and we go to church with him, his brother and their parents. Simeon turned two today and had his party down at the Wake Forest fire department. I think every child from our church’s preschool division was there- there were kids EVERYWHERE! It was awesome. Sam took a little while to get used to the truck but once he got up in it- he was checking everything out. Here are some pictures… (please forgive the quality- I was using my “purse” camera)
Sam and I in the truck visiting with a firefighter.



From Simeon's Birthday Party

Sam enjoys shutting doors now. Here he is trying to shut the HUGE door of the fire truck. Yes, he is also holding my keys- he wouldn’t let go of them the entire time we were there.



From Simeon's Birthday Party

He played with all the gadgets on the side of the truck for awhile.



From Simeon's Birthday Party




From Simeon's Birthday Party

In case you were wondering just how big the tires are on a fire truck just know that at Sam’s 15 month check up, he measured 33 inches tall!! I didn’t realize just how BIG a fire truck was until I was standing right beside it. WHOA!



From Simeon's Birthday Party

This fireman volunteered to dress up for the kids. They have to put all their firefighting gear on in less than 1 minute. The entire outfit weighs 75 pounds and they are still able to run around inside of a burning building- amazing!



From Simeon's Birthday Party

All the kids got Wake Forest Jr. Firefighter helmets. Here is Sam modeling his tonight once we got home.



From Simeon's Birthday Party

After showing us the truck and their gear, we got a tour of the fire house. It was really neat. I learned that the WF firemen work 24 hour shifts but only work 10 days a month which I thought was very interesting. Once we were done, we went back to church to have cupcakes and hot dogs. I didn’t get any pictures because Sam was exhausted and slept the majority of the time before we ate.

We had a great time at the fire house and I am definitely planning on having a birthday party for Sam there in a few years. It was cool!